Sorry: Dominic Grieve, the country's most senior law officer, has apologised after he said minority communities have brought with them 'endemic' corruption

Corruption is rife in Britain’s Pakistani community, the country’s most senior law officer has warned.

Dominic Grieve said politicians needed to ‘wake up’ to the threat of corruption posed by minority communities using a ‘favour culture’.

In remarks that will inflame already sensitive diplomatic relations with Pakistan, the attorney general said he was referring to ‘mainly the Pakistani community’.

He said electoral corruption was a
problem in constituencies such as Slough in Berkshire. Tory councillor
Eshaq Khan was found guilty of fraud involving postal ballots in 2008.

Khan and five others were jailed in 2009 for using 'ghost' voters to win a local council ballot to oust longstanding Labour councillor Lydia Simmons from her seat on Slough Borough Council.

The audacious scam in 2007 was described by the Crown Prosecution Service as part of an 'epidemic' which threatens to destroy democracy in the UK.

Father-of 10 Khan received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and perjury.

The
Electoral Commission is planning to introduce tougher identity checks
at the ballot box in Tower Hamlets in East London, another area that has
suffered from electoral fraud.

In a statement released today, Mr Grieve said: 'I am very clear that integration between ethnic communities in the United Kingdom has worked well and has delivered great benefits for all of us.

'The point I was making is that, as a law officer, it's my duty to ensure the rule of law is upheld, and one of the issues that I feel requires close attention is any potential for a rise in corruption to undermine civil society.

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'I am absolutely clear that this problem is not attributable to any one community, as I know very well from my many years promoting community cohesion.'

Tory MEP Sajjad Karim, the party's legal affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, hit out at Mr Grieve, calling his comments 'offensive'.

He told the BBC: 'As a member of the British Pakistani community myself, I found these comments to be offensive, divisive; I do think they were ill advised and I'm afraid the very general way in which Dominic is trying to make the points that he is making will have the net effect of being seen as purely populist in nature.

Mr Grieve had previously said electoral corruption was a problem in constituencies such as Slough in Berkshire where Tory councillor Eshaq Khan (pictured) was found guilty of fraud involving postal ballots in 2008

'It was quite clear when one carries
out even the most basic examination of the claims that he is making that
the facts do not support the argument that he is presenting'.

Mr
Karim added: 'It's absolutely essential that if any politician in an
influential position, regardless of whatever personal political
ambitions that individual may have, it is essential that they do not try
and behave in a way that creates a general impression about any
particular community.

'If
Dominic has got any individual specific points he wants to make in
relation to voter fraud or anything of that nature that's quite a
separate issue and can be looked at.

Disgraced Khan used fake votes to win a seat on Slough Borough Council (file picture)

'But
to try and generalise in this way and to paint all British Pakistani
community members in a certain light, I'm afraid that is simply
something that cannot be ignored and it is certainly not something that
the British public at large will accept from Dominic at all.'

Labour's Khalid Mahmood accused Mr Grieve of 'scapegoating' the Pakistani community and called for David Cameron to state whether he backed his Attorney General.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'This is the law officer who has made this statement.

'The Prime Minister needs to make clear whether this is his understanding of what's going on, either agree with Dominic or not.'

He added: 'I wholly agree with Dominic that he does need to address issues of political fraud wherever they exist.

'That can be done without scapegoating a particular community and getting tension within communities.'

But Tory Andrew Stephenson, chairman of the all-party group on Pakistan, backed Mr Grieve and said there was a problem 'mainly driven by corrupt political activists on all sides'.

The Pendle MP told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'There is, in parts of the Pakistani community, a favour culture. But also there are very strong family bonds.

'So if you allow an entire family to be registered on postal votes, where the head of the household can see how his wife and how his children are voting, they will instinctively almost want to vote in the same way as him because of the strong family bonds.

'Unfortunately the postal voting system allows that to happen and means that women and young people are disenfranchised from the political process.'

David
Cameron sparked outrage earlier in his premiership when he accused
Pakistan of ‘exporting terrorism’ while on a visit to India.

Mr Grieve told the Daily Telegraph that
corruption could also be found in the ‘white Anglo-Saxon community’ as
well as among other groups.

But he said the rise of corruption
was ‘because we have minority communities in this country which come
from backgrounds where corruption is endemic.

'It is something we as
politicians have to wake to up to’.

Condemnation: Baroness Warsi, the Foreign Office minister, has previously said the Conservatives lost three seats at the general election because of voter fraud in the Asian community

Inflammatory: David Cameron sparked outrage on a previous visit to India by suggesting Pakistan was 'exporting terrorism'

Baroness
Warsi, the Foreign Office minister, has previously said the
Conservatives lost three seats at the general election because of voter
fraud in the Asian community.

Mr
Grieve, whose Beaconsfield constituency in Buckinghamshire has a
sizeable Asian community, said: ‘I can see many of them have come
because of the opportunities that they get.

‘But
they also come from societies where they have been brought up to
believe you can only get certain things through a favour culture.

‘One of the things you have to make absolutely clear is that that is not the case and it’s not acceptable.’

Asked if he was referring to the Pakistani community, Mr Grieve said: ‘Yes, it’s mainly the Pakistani community, not the Indian community. I wouldn’t draw it down to one. I’d be wary of saying it’s just a Pakistani problem.’

He added: ‘I happen to be very optimistic about the future of the UK. We have managed integration of minority communities better than most countries in Europe.’

Mr Grieve also admitted that the ‘volume’ of potential immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria next year when movement controls were lifted ‘may pose serious infrastructure problems’.

The audacious scam in 2007 was described by the Crown Prosecution Service as part of an 'epidemic' which threatens to destroy democracy in the UK.

Eshaq Khan, 52, received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and perjury.

During his trial the court heard that Eshaq Khan, a father-of-10, had been dishonestly elected as a Tory councillor in May 2007 after a scheme in which 'ghost voters' were registered on the electoral role.

The fraudulent plot was uncovered when ousted Labour councillor and former Mayor Miss Simmons and her Labour team questioned the result.

They pointed out that at a number of houses up to 19 names - all Asian - had registered in the run up to the election at the same address then opted to vote by post.

Charles Miskin, prosecuting at the trial said the action of the convicted vote-riggers was like a virus that needed to be eradicated.

He referred to a report by Electoral Commission Richard Mawrey QC which served as a warning that unless the UK election procedures are changed, the nation's democracy will be at stake.

Citing the report Mr Miskin said: 'The systems to deal with fraud are not working well, they are not working badly - the fact is there are no real systems.

'Until there are, fraud will continue unabated. The system for voting would disgrace a banana republic.'